Aritech CS250 Keypad Fault

Lasse1976

Hi all

I have a problem with my alarm aritech cs 250. I would greatly appreciate your help!.

Some weeks ago it was showing some kind of battery error. With help from this grreat forum I changed the battery and everything was working fine with only nice green lights.

We have just come home from holiday and suddenly the control panel (where I turn the alarm on/off) is totally dead with no lights at all. If I open the cabinet where we have the battery there are also no lights. Before it was blinking with a red light.

If I try to turn all the electricity off and on, I get a loud alarm. The control panel shows a green and red light for a very short time and goes dead again. In the cabinet it starts to show the red light again and this light is blinking for some time and then goes dead again.

Please, please what can I do?. What is wrong?. I have never had a situation where the panel is not showing lights.

Lars

Lasse1976

Koolkid, can you help us again?

KoolKid

Power down & disconnect the battery. Wait for 2 minutes & power up on the mains only and tell me what happens.

Lasse1976

Hi Koolkid

Thank you for your fast reply.

Sorry for my stupid question, but what do you mean by "mains only". Do you mean power up without having the battery connected?.

We greatly appreciate your help!!.

Br

Lars

KoolKid

Yes, leave the battery disconnected when you power it up.

Lasse1976

Perfect, I am on a short business trip but is back at the apartment tomorrow. I will write back then. Once again, thank you. Appreciate it.

KoolKid

No problem I will talk to you then.
I have also moved these posts to a new thread. The other one was about a CS350

Lasse1976

Thank you :-)

Lasse1976

It is a little strange. The battery error (red light blinking on the panel) went away and the panel was only showing a green light with no errors after I changed the battery. It has been working fine for a short time, and suddenly the panel is dead. Even with the battery error, it was blinking red for months without a dead panel.

Can it be that the new battery should have been charged before changing the old with the new?. I kind of thought the new battery was charged automatically in the system.

Anyhow, I will get back to you tomorrow.

KoolKid

I'm thinking maybe the battery is not getting the charge. It a well known fault with the CS250 where the battery charge voltage drops down .

Lasse1976

Is that something I can "change" do myself or what can be done if this is the case. I will anyhow do as you decribed earlier when I get back tomorrow

KoolKid

You can up the output slightly with an adjustable pot on the board. But generally its a sign the panels had its day.

Lasse1976

Should I call for a alarm technician if this is the case?. Sorry I am Danish and not a very technical person, so I am not sure what to do even after reading above. Can you with a picture or somehow show it to me?. The language barrier :-/

Lasse1976

Hi again

I have just tried what you suggested.

Powered down, disconnected the battery, waited for a few minutes and then powered up (I tried it twice with the same result).

This is what happend:
First a loud alarm for at short time and then a less loud alarm/noise that went away when I entered the code on keypad.
Keypad:There was light on the keypad and it was saying something about a local system error and the upper green light was blinking. If I tried to enter the code to turn on the alarm, nothing happened.

The light in the cabinet was blinking red again.

If, I powered down connected the battery again, and powered up, everything was as before, dead.

KoolKid

Sounds like the panel or the keypad is faulty. You would need a working keypad and panel to diagnose further.
If would be easier to just upgrade the panel and keypad..

Lasse1976

okay, thank you. I suppose this means I will have to call an alarm technician.

Lasse1976

Hi again, I just spoke to the alarm technician who will stop by. He mentioned it is not possible to get a new panel or keypad, if this is the problem. Do you agree?.

KoolKid

They are still available over here. Not sure about your country.
Either way most panels come with a new keypad anyway. So changing for a different make/model should not be much difference.
Some guys use this as a ploy saying you need to upgrade everything etc....
If in doubt get advice from a few different installers.

fred funk }{

They've been discontinued and are very difficult to get.

Lasse1976

Thank you,,the alarm technician will stop by Monday. Do you have a link to a place in your country I could contact for a new panel if this turns out to be the problem. I am a little concerned, I will have to contact an electrician to take down the cs 250 system in the apartment if I cant get it to work. Or is it possible to upgrade without taking down the system.

KoolKid

If you are upgrading the panel and keypad take a look at Siemens SPC range.
There are some suppliers listed in the sticky.
Don't know whether it would be worth shipping it to you.
If you are looking for a cheap fix maybe try eBay for a panel or keypad and try that first.